Hardware and software scan
Hardware and software discovery of computers on the network is performed by the administrator first issuing hardware and software discovery requests for selected computers in the AM Console. The requests are stored in a database. AM Collector handles the requests and stores the results of the scan s back into the database where they are available for viewing in AM Console.
scan methods
Hardware and software of computers in the network can be scanned by installing Agents (recommended). For more options, see scan method selection.
scan settings
Each computer may use a different scan method. Which scan path is used for which computer is determined by the scan profile assigned to the computer. By default, all computers use the Default scan profile. You can change the settings of this profile, or you can create custom scan profiles and assign them to computers, for example in the object tree on a computer type object using the local menu command - Set scan.
If you want the computer to be unscannable for some reason (e.g. it is running on Linux, Apple operating systems), check scan way for both hardware scan and software scan. Setting up scan in this way will then ensure that bulk requests do not generate scan requests for the machine.
The scan profile to use when creating scam request. Changing the profile later will not affect requests already created.
For each computer, you can define custom scan settings to be used instead of a scan profile. This option will be removed in future versions of Alvao and is no longer recommended.
Creating scan request
To create multiple computer scan requests:
- In the object tree, select the organizational folder in which you want to scan the software.
- In main window in the top right, select the Objects and the Computers view.
- Select the computers you want to scan. (To select the entire list, press Ctrl+ A.) Then right-click and select the command - Scan from the menu.
- A window will open on the screen New scan - Basic, where you can specify the scope and method of scan. By default, you can leave the option enabled. Use saved settings and continue with the OK.
- You can monitor the processing progress of the created requests in the main window on the scan in the Status column. The tab shows all requests related to all computers in the organizational folder that is currently selected in the tree.
You can also use the Scan command in the object tree on a specific computer.
Creating a request for immediate scan of HW and SW
To perform an immediate HW or SW scan. use the following procedure:
- In the object tree in the AM Console, select computer.
- From the local menu, select Scan.
- The New scan window will appear, where you turn on the Scan and evaluate immediately.
Note: When a single PC is selected, the option is automatically enabled.
- Finish the scan settings and select OK.
- Now a new scan request will be created on the scan tab, which Collector will try to execute and evaluate as quickly as possible. If the computer already had a pending request (for example, scheduled automatically), this request will be replaced with the newly created one.
You can also select an entire organizational unit and on the Objects tab, multiple computers at the same time.
Instant scan can only be guaranteed for the without Agent, and automatic scan methods. If you need to scan immediately with the Autonomous Agent method, you need to shorten Agent's polling interval to the Alvao REST API.
Requests entered in this way are executed starting from the oldest. If the computer is powered off, scan is deferred according to the settings in Administration - Asset Management - Servers - Edit - the settings in the Scan block.
Create a request for immediate scan evaluation
If you want to evaluate the scan immediately, use the following procedure:
- In the tree, select a specific computer or organizational unit and go to the scan tab.
- Select the desired scan s and from the local menu select the Evaluate Now.
- scan status will change to "Waiting for scan evaluation".
- Collector will now attempt to process the request as quickly as possible even outside of the scan evaluation schedule.
Display instant scan requests
- In the AM Console, select the desired organization in the object tree.
- Go to the scan tab.
- View the Immediately column, which determines whether the request should be processed immediately (if manually entered, select Scan and Evaluate Immediately).
- If you sort the list of requests by the Immediately column, you can easily find all requests for immediate scan.
Automatic scan scheduling
We recommend that computers be scanned periodically using automatic scan scheduling. Depending on how up-to-date you want the information to be, specify a period (number of days) after which a new scan and evaluation should be automatically performed. When the system finds a scan older than the number of days you specify, it creates a request for a new scan. The default period is set in Administration - Asset Management - Scan Profiles - Edit - Automatic scan Scheduling Period.
Once a new scan is created and evaluated, it is recommended to invalidate the older scan. This can be set in Administration - Asset Management - Settings - scan by enabling the Maintain only one valid scan per computer option.
When scan s will be performed and evaluated can be specified in the server settings: Administration - Asset Management - Servers - Edit - block Scheduling.
Hardware scan
When a new computer is inserted into the registry, only the Set - Computer object pair is created. After the hardware scan is completed, additional objects representing the scanned parts of the set or computer components appear in the set and computer.
When you rescan the computer hardware later, the default setting removes all computer components and replaces them with the currently scanned ones. Objects that are automatically updated in this way according to the hardware scan are marked with a yellow triangle in the tree. Set components are not updated. Only new objects are created if, for example, you connect a printer, etc.
For each object in a computer set, you can set whether or not it should be automatically updated. In the object tree, right-click on the object, then in appeared menu click on Edit option. A window will open on the screen Object - General, where you can turn on or off the Automatically update based on scan.
The images show the default settings that govern the object template settings (the first one the on the Properties tab, the second one on the Detail window). Components inside the computer are automatically updated, if you see an yellow triangle over them. The components of the set do not change.
Objects that do not update automatically must be updated manually. If you right-click on the computer in the tree and select Hardware - Details from the menu, a window will open on the screen Hardware scan Detail with a detailed view of the last hardware scan taken, which you can follow.
Because updating is done by removing existing objects and creating new ones, do not write any notes to objects that are automatically updated, create document links, etc. You would lose this information at the next hardware scan. If you want to keep a component, such as a hard disk, as a separate asset with notes and documents, first disable automatic updating for it.
If you have two or more hard drives on your computer and you turn off automatic updating for one of them, the remaining hard drives will not be updated. This is because the system cannot accurately match scanned drives to drives in the registry and does not know which to update and which not to update.
Objects in the tree are automatically updated according to the hardware scan performed only if the Update objects in the tree option is enabled in the scan profile.
If key identifying components of a computer happen to contain duplicate and meaningless values in the serial number (e.g. multiple motherboards with serial number: 000000), it is possible to add these values to the so-called HW blacklist.
The values of the following properties are automatically updated according to the hardware scan if they are contained in an object of type computer:
- Total hard drive capacity (GB)
- Case type
- Graphic card
- Host computer
- IP addresses
- MAC addresses
- Model
- Last logged in user (username)
- Operating system
- Number of physical CPU cores
- Number of logical CPU cores
- Number of hard disks
- Number of processors
- Description
- Processor
- BIOS serial number
- Part of a domain
- RAM size (GB)
- Manufacturer
Existing devices are identificated in Asset Management based on:
- Device MAC address
- Network name
- IP address
Software scan
If the Update installation log option is enabled in the scan profile for software scan, the scan result is automatically evaluated against the library of software products and entered into the installation log, records of product installs or uninstalls are automatically entered so that the recorded status matches the scanned status. The logs are created with the scan processing date.
When you disable the Update installation records option, You can manually update the installation records by right-clicking on the relevant software scan in the main window on the scan tab and selecting Software - Compare with installation status from the menu. The screen will display a Installation logging vs. software scan, which displays the entries that need to be created in the installation log. You can select only certain entries in the list and have them created at your discretion.
To properly evaluate software scan, it is therefore advisable to load the current software product library with Software - Software Product Library - Load Current Library before submitting a scan request to the database. When you execute this command after the software has been scanned, all computers are re-evaluated for the last scan s made against the updated library and the installation records are updated if necessary.
If the system does not detect some programs and the Software tab you see unrecognized records, select the unrecognized records and use the Send SW to identify... command from the local menu. A wizard will be displayed where you can enter advanced information for the unrecognized records, and once this wizard is complete, a request will be created and sent by Collector to our specialists. They will add the unrecognized products to the standard library. Once the new library is downloaded, the records will be recognized.
Details of the last computer scan To view the software scan detail, right-click on the computer in the tree and select from the menu Software - Details.